The present invention relates to a method of knitting fabric with a flat knitting machine and, more particularly, to a method of knitting fabric in which at least a part of loops in a flechage knitting region where yarn is caused to reverse in yarn feed direction at some midpoints of knitting width for knitting the region are transferred between front and back needle beds, for stitch move.
A variety of knitting methods have been proposed for knitting a fabric which is called integral garment, according to which when a front body of a vest or a sweater is knitted with a flat knitting machine, a neckline opening can be formed on the flat knitting machine to relieve a sewing operation after completion of the knitting. The applicant of this application previously disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2538421 an integral garment knitting method in which the number of wales around an edge portion of a neckline opening of a vest or sweater is increased to increase a peripheral length of the neckline opening. The way of increasing the peripheral length of the neckline opening of the vest 101 as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2538421 will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. According to the knitting method disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2538421, a front body 101 of the vest is knitted starting at a hem 102 toward a neckline opening 103 and then is forked into a right front body 101a and a left front body 101b. Starting with the neckline opening 103, the right front body 101a and the left front body 101b are each knitted in the flechage knitting. From a line V in FIG. 7, the right front body 101a and the left front body 101b are each moved outwards, to form empty needles between the neckline opening 103 and the right and left front bodies 101a, 101b and then new loops are formed on the empty needles thus formed, to increase the number of wales around an edge portion 104 of the neckline opening 103, so as to increase a peripheral length of the neckline opening 103. Then, a collar 105 is formed around the edge portion 104 of the neckline opening 103 thus increased in number of wale, so that the collar 105 having a large diameter is formed. The knitting mentioned above can make a vest of a high commercial value having the neckline opening that can allow one""s head to smoothly pass through when wearing.
The knitting for increasing the peripheral length of the neckline opening of the front body 101 of the vest is described with reference to the knitting course diagram of FIG. 8. In the following, only the knitting for the left front body 101b will be described, because the same knitting is symmetrically performed for the right and left front bodies 101a, 1101b. The course 1 of FIG. 8 shows a right side of the vest 101 knitted up to the line V of FIG. 7. The needles A-D of the front needle bed are used for the neckline opening 103 and the needles E-K of the front needle bed are used for the left front body 101b. In the course 2, the loops of the left front body 101b retained on the needles E-K of the front needle bed are transferred to the back needle bed. In the course 3, after the back needle bed is racked rightward one pitch, the loops of the left front body 101b are transferred to the front needle bed, to make the needle E of the front needle bed an empty needle. In the next course 4, a yarn is fed to the needle E of the front needle bed to form a new loop thereat and also fed to the needles F-L of the front needle bed. In the course 5, the yarn is fed to the needles L-F of the front needle bed to knit the left front body 101b. In the course 6, the loops on the needles F-L of the front needle bed are transferred to the back needle bed. In the course 7, after the back needle bed is further racked rightward one pitch, the left front body 101b is transferred back to the front needle bed. In the course 8, a new loop is formed on the needle F of the front needle bed and the yarn is fed to the needles G-M of the front needle bed. In the course 9, the yarn is fed to the needles M-G of the front needle bed to knit the left front body 101b. Subsequently, by repeating the same knitting as the knitting of the courses 6-9, new wale around the edge portion 104 of the neckline opening 103 is added on the needles E-G of the front needle bed to produce the state of the course 10. Thereafter, in the course 11, the yarn is fed to the needles N-A of the front needle bed. After this manner, the knitting of increasing the number of wales around the edge portion 104 of the neckline opening is completed. Subsequently, the same knitting is performed for the right front body 101a. Thereafter, the collar 105 is formed, with which the front body 101 is completed.
In addition to the knitting mentioned above, the flechage knitting is repeatedly performed to gradually narrow the knitting widths of the right and left front bodies, whereby shoulder drops 9a, 9b like those formed in the vest of FIG. 1 are formed. However, according to the method disclosed by Japanese Patent No. 2538421, whenever the right and left front bodies 101a, 101b are moved outwards, as shown in the courses 3 and 7 of FIG. 8, all loops of the right and left front bodies 101a, 101b are transferred back to the front needle bed before the new loops are formed. Due to this, whenever the number of wales around the edge portion 104 of the neckline opening 103 is increased, the right and left front bodies 101a, 101b must be transferred between the front and back needle beds repeatedly. Accordingly, when the right and left front bodies 101a, 101b are knitted in the flechage knitting to form the shoulder drops 9a, 9b, the loops which are in the rest state must be transferred between the front and back needle beds repeatedly, due to which the increase of the number of wales around the edge portion 104 of the neckline opening 103 may cause problems of yarn breakage, elongation of loop, and the like. Thus, since the method disclosed by Japanese Patent No. 2538421 involves the problem that yarn breakage and like problems may be caused by the repeated loop transfer when the shoulder drops are formed, it has the disadvantage that the number of wales around the edge portion of the neckline opening cannot be increased to a satisfactory extent.
In order to solve the problems mentioned above, the present invention provides a method of knitting a fabric by using a flat knitting machine comprising at least a pair of front and back needle beds, at least either of which can be racked laterally, wherein a flechage knitting region is formed by a flechage knitting wherein a yarn feeder is caused to reverse in yarn feed direction at some midpoints of knitting width to put needle in a rest state sequentially from the needle positioned at an end of knitting width and a stitch move is performed in such a manner that at least a part of loops in the flechage knitting region are transferred between the front and back needle beds to move the loops laterally, and wherein after loops in a stitch move region which are moved laterally whenever an adequate number of courses of the flechage knitting region are knitted are transferred to an opposite needle bed, the front and back needle beds are moved relative to each other and, then, loops of wale which are put in the rest state in a process of the flechage knitting are held on the needle bed opposite to the needle bed on which loops of a next course are formed in a sequent flechage knitting until the stitch move is completed, and only the loops of the wale in which the loops of the next course are formed in the sequent knitting are transferred back to their originally retained needle bed prior to the forming of the loops of the next course, the knitting being repeatedly performed.
According to the construction of the present invention mentioned above, when a knitted fabric is knitted to include the flechage knitting region by a flechage knitting wherein needles are put in the rest state sequentially from the needle positioned at an end of knitting width and by the stitch move wherein at least a part of loops in the flechage knitting region are transferred between the front and back needle beds to move the loops laterally, the loops in the stitch move region are transferred to the needle bed opposite to the needle bed on which the loops in the stitch move region are knitted in the flechage knitting. Then, when the loops in the stitch move region are transferred back to their originally retained needle bed from the opposite needle bed, for the sequent flechage knitting, only the loops in wale in which the loops of the next course are formed are transferred back to the front needle bed in the state in which the loops that were put in the rest state in the process of the flechage knitting are retained on the opposite needle bed, to form the loops of the next course. This knitting is repeatedly performed until the stitch move of all the loops is completed. Accordingly, there is no need for the loops that were put in the rest state in the process of the flechage knitting to be transferred between the front and back needle beds repeatedly. Hence, possible problems such as yarn breakage and elongation of loop can be avoided.
The present invention provides a method of knitting a fabric by using a flat knitting machine comprising at least a pair of front and back needle beds, at least either of which can be racked laterally, wherein in a process of knitting a body from its hem to its neckline, after start of forming of a neckline opening, right and left bodies confronting each other across the neckline opening are knitted with different yarn feeders in a flechage knitting; while loops of the right and left bodies are put into the rest state sequentially from wale on a shoulder-point side, the right and left bodies are transferred between the front and back needle beds, so that they are moved outwards to provide empty needles between the neckline opening and the right and left front bodies; that new loops are formed on the empty needles thus formed, to increase the number of wales around an edge portion of the neckline opening; and then, a collar is formed around the neckline opening, and wherein the knitting includes a stitch move which is carried out while the right and left bodies are knitted in the flechage knitting, the knitting comprising the following steps:
(1) that either of the right and left bodies is knitted in the flechage knitting in an adequate number of courses;
(2) that the one body knitted in the flechage knitting in the step (1) is retained on the opposite needle bed and the front and back needle beds are moved relative to each other in a direction in which the neckline opening is expanded;
(3) that only the loops of the wale which are sequentially knitted in a sequent flechage knitting, of the one body retained on the opposite needle bed in the step (2), are transferred back to their originally retained needle bed; and
(4) that the steps (1) to (3) are repeatedly performed until the knitting of the one body is completed.
According to the construction of the present invention mentioned above, in a process of knitting a body from its hem to its neckline, after start of forming of a neckline opening, right and left bodies confronting each other across the neckline opening are knitted with different yarn feeders in a flechage knitting. Then, while loops of the right and left bodies are put into the rest state sequentially from wale on a shoulder-point side in the process of the flechage knitting, the right and left bodies are transferred between the front and back needle beds, so that they are moved outwards to provide empty needles between the neckline opening and the right and left front bodies. In parallel with the knitting for increasing the number of wale of the edge portion around the neckline opening, the right and left bodies are knitted in the flechage knitting, in order to form shoulder drops. When the right and left bodies are moved outwards in the knitting process of moving the right and left bodies outwards and also forming the shoulder drops, their loops are transferred to the needle bed opposite to the needle bed on which the loops are formed and then the front and back needle beds are moved relative to each other in a direction in which the body moves away from the neckline opening. Then, when the loops of the right and left bodies are transferred back to their originally retained needle bed, for forming the loops in the sequent knitting, only the loops of the wale in which loops of a next course are formed are transferred back to their originally retained needle bed, while the loops that were put in the rest state in the process of the flechage knitting are left on the opposite needle bed. These knitting steps are repeatedly performed. This can eliminate the need for the loops that were put in the rest state in the flechage knitting for forming the shoulder drops to be transferred between the front and back needle beds repeatedly. Hence, possible problems such as yarn breakage and elongation of loop can be avoided. Accordingly, the right and left bodies can be moved outwards as far as desired. This enables the number of wales of the edge portion around the neckline opening to be increased freely even when the shoulder drops are formed.
Also, the present invention provides a method of knitting a fabric having a body, a right sleeve and a left sleeve by using a flat knitting machine comprising at least a pair of front and back needle beds, at least either of which can be racked laterally,
wherein the right and left sleeves are knitted on both sides of the body; parts of the right and left sleeves extending from underarms to shoulder are shifted toward the body, so that the loops of the right and left sleeves and the loops of the body at ends thereof on the side adjacent to each other are overlapped with each other; and then loops of a next course are formed in the double loops thus formed, this knitting being repeatedly performed to knit a knitwear having the sleeves and the body joined to each other, in the process of which flechage knitting regions where the sleeves and the body are joined together while in a flechage knitting connecting together an adequate number of wales of the sleeve and the body positioned around the boundary therebetween are formed in joining regions between the body and the right and left sleeves and, then, the sleeves and the body are each narrowed while the yarn is fed to the sleeves and the body, to form a parachute pattern,
wherein the knitting for forming the flechage knitting regions comprises the following steps:
(1) that the flechage knitting is performed connecting together an adequate number of wales of both of the body and one of the sleeves around the boundary therebetween in either of the right and left flechage knitting regions;
(2) that the sleeve that was knitted in the flechage knitting in the step (1) is retained on the needle bed opposite to the needle bed on which the body is retained and the front and back needle beds are moved relative to each other in a direction in which the sleeve moves closer to the body;
(3) that only the loops of the wale of the sleeve retained on the opposite needle bed in the step (2) in which loops of a next course are sequentially formed in a sequent knitting are transferred back to the needle bed on which the body is retained, to overlap the loops of the sleeve with the loops of the body at ends thereof on the side adjacent to each other, so as to join together the sleeve and the body; and
(4) that the steps (1) to (3) are repeatedly performed until the flechage knitting regions formed around the boundary between the one sleeve and the body are completed.
According to the construction of the present invention mentioned above, the right and left sleeves are knitted on both sides of the body and are shifted toward the body, so that the loops of the right and left sleeves and the loops of the body at ends thereof on the side adjacent to each other are overlapped with each other from underarms to shoulder, to form the double loops and then loops of a next course are formed in the double loops thus formed. This knitting is repeatedly performed to knit a knitwear having the sleeves and the body joined to each other. In this knitting process, flechage knitting regions where the sleeves and the body are joined together while flechage knitting is performed connecting together an adequate number of wales of the sleeve and the body positioned around the boundary therebetween are formed in joining regions between the body and the right and left sleeves. When the sleeves are shifted to the body and jointed thereto while the flechage knitting region is formed, the loops of the sleeves in the flechage knitting region are transferred to the opposite needle bed and then the front and back needle beds are moved relative to each other so that the sleeve can be moved away from the body. Then, when the sleeves are transferred back to their originally retained needle bed on which the body is retained, only the loops of the wale in which loops of a next course are sequentially formed in a sequent flechage knitting are transferred back to the needle bed on which the body is retained, while the loops of the wale that were put in the rest state in the process of the flechage knitting are left on the needle bed opposite to the needle bed on which the body is retained. Thus, the sleeves can be shifted to and joined to the body without the need for the loops that were put in the rest state in the process of knitting the flechage knitting region to be transferred between the front and back needle beds repeatedly. Also, when the parachute pattern is formed after the flechage knitting region is knitted, diameter of the parachute pattern can be kept uniform. Therefore, the knitted fabric is prevented from being strained or loosened at the parachute pattern. Also, even when a color pattern is formed in the parachute pattern, the color pattern can be prevented from being transformed.